Hydraulic fracturing began as an experiment in 1947, and the first commercially successful application followed in 1950. As of 2012, 2.5 million "frac jobs" had been performed worldwide on oil and gas wells; over one million of those within the U.S. Such treatment is generally necessary to achieve adequate flow rates in shale gas, tight gas, tight oil, and coal seam gas wells. Some hydraulic fractures can form naturally in certain veins or dikes.

Latest News for: Fracking induced quakes

Editor, ... As described by S. C ... This is abetted by new technologies of ground radar, heavy machinery and vehicles, fracking and of course the computer ... Familiar unintended consequences of our current era’s practices, laws and policies contribute to the precipitous draw-down of the Great Plains aquifer and fracking-induced earth quakes ... Anthony Dater....

Initial studies by the BritishGeological Society suggested the quakes were linked to the fracking activities while an independent report found ‘most likely, the repeated seismicity was induced by direct injection of fluid into the fault zone.’ ... fracking should be reconsidered....

“Right now, there isn’t a good solution for how to do that with induced earthquakes,” said Ryan Schultz of the Alberta Geological Survey and lead author of a paper published Thursday on the hundreds of quakes that have occurred around the Duvernay oil and gas field since 2013 ... The fourth factor is the volume of fracking fluid....

It is no coincidence that frack-heavy Oklahoma is shown to be at a higher risk of major quakes in 2017 ... The overall US hazard risk is lower in 2017 compared to last year though, as more states overall have scaled back their fracking operations and are far more quake free than they used to be....

So seismologists soon felt comfortable suggesting that the quake was at least partly manmade or induced; that is, not something that would have happened by itself, but a product of the large fracking operation less than five miles from Timpson ... The quakes clustered around fracking ......